UpdateChina’s fever for iPhones is cooling, merchants say
With the iPhone 6 being unveiled on Tuesday in the US, Chinese consumers seem far less interested than they were in the iPhone 5
Tuesday is the day Apple unveils the iPhone 6 in the United States (1am Wednesday in Hong Kong), but Chinese consumers have given the run-up the collective cold shoulder, as their thoughts seem to be more on competing products and the government’s anti-corruption campaign.
To echo the US release, Taobao.com, China’s largest online shopping platform, opened a special section dedicated to pre-orders and discussions about the new product.
And even though promises of fast delivery have been made, most of the large online electronics shops had not received a single order by 2pm on Tuesday.
“You won’t believe [the cold reception for the iPhone 6] if you compare it to the fever of their previous release,” said an online shop manager, who declined to be named. “We have noticed a downtrend in interest since the iPhone 5, but we never expected iPhone fever could drop so fast.”
Although there as a report in the Legal Evening News that the pre-order price for a new iPhone 6 at some electronics shops in Beijing soared as high as 28,000 yuan (HK$35,200), most certified shops on Taobao asked for an advance payment ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 yuan. The actual price would almost certainly be higher than that, but a buyer could ask for full refund if the final cost was too high.
Techradar.com reports the earliest date the phone will be for sale is Friday next week.